one settlement does not make a trend

Absolutely correct. Nor does two or three or four settlements in the larger context of 200+ infringers... yet we won't be able to help ourselves from viewing it as such (myself included).

At some point a big settlement (before or after Markman) will hit that will make all previous ones seem very small by comparison. The danger is in thinking that they will all be small, all be large, all about the same, or increasing incrementally. I think as time goes, we'll see settlements all over the map. Totally unpredictable - like the market itself.

- Sinkman